The Yankees are heading into Monday’s 6 p.m. EDT trade deadline with a clear shopping list and a roster that still needs work. Catcher, the bullpen and maybe another bat or two remain on the table as the club tries to prop up a lineup that has slumped since Aaron Judge went on the injured list on June 2.
Saturday brought the first move of the deadline weekend, and it was a small one. Brian Cashman sent Camilo Doval to Pittsburgh in exchange for two minor league prospects, catcher Omar Alfonzo, 22, and outfielder Luis Cruz, 18. Doval’s uneven, below-standard run with the Yankees had already pushed him out of any meaningful late-season bullpen plans, so the deal fit the club’s broader push for relief help.
That bullpen search is still very much alive. The Yankees want a reliever who can miss bats and get ground balls, and that naturally pointed them toward Padres left-hander Adrian Morejon. But San Diego rejected the Yankees’ offer of starter Will Warren, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Morejon makes sense as a target because he’s a hard-throwing lefty with swing-and-miss ability and is set to become a free agent after the season. Warren, meanwhile, comes with four more years of control and has been a durable starter since the start of last season, even if his results have been uneven.
Before Friday’s 6.2 shutout innings against the Cubs, he had a 6.45 ERA since June 8. Warren and lefty teammate Ryan Weathers would likely be squeezed out of a postseason rotation if “The Big Four” - Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, Max Fried and Carlos Rodon - are all available.
The Yankees are also known to have interest in former closer Clay Holmes, who is rehabbing from a leg fracture and could eventually move back to relief work by October. A bat remains part of the conversation too, and the Yankees added one Sunday afternoon by trading with Washington for Luis Garcia Jr.
Garcia was leading the National League with a .560 slugging percentage, and the price to get him was not steep. The Yankees sent relievers Yovanny Cruz and Jake Bird, who had recently been sent to Triple-A, along with a pair of mid-level minor league right-handed pitchers to Washington. Garcia is eligible for free agency after the 2027 season.
Even with that move, the Yankees still appear to be looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder. Garcia is mostly a first base/DH type, so this feels like a partial answer rather than the final one, especially with uncertainty hanging over Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton returning in 2026 and returning to form.
One right-handed outfield option disappeared from the board Saturday night when the Royals sent Lane Thomas to the Braves, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Thomas can play all three outfield spots and has posted an .800 OPS against left-handed pitching this season, with an .868 mark overall over his last 23 games.
Another name to keep in mind is Mets outfielder Tyrone Taylor, whose recent surge has raised his trade value. Taylor is a free agent after this season and is hitting .354 with seven homers and a 1.311 OPS over his last 23 games.
There was also a major ripple elsewhere on the deadline market when the Dodgers landed Tigers ace Tarik Skubal late Saturday night. They did it by parting with prospects Nos. 5, 7 and 17 in MLB Pipeline’s rankings, which still came as something of a surprise with plenty of deadline time left. By comparison, the Yankees’ similarly rated prospects are pitchers Henry Lalane and Thatcher Hurd and outfielder Wilson Rodriguez.
That kind of organizational pitching depth could give the Yankees options over the next 36 hours, depending on how aggressive they want to be. For now, Sunday morning in Chicago has been quiet. And if you’re the Yankees, at least one thing is clear: Skubal did not end up with the AL East-leading Rays.
In Other News...
Yankees Suddenly Owe Anthony Volpe Answers After This Latest Pivot
Anthony Volpes rise with the Yankees had already given him a prominent place in the clubs present and future, but his path has taken a sharp turn. The shortstop who was once a starter and a key piece of the Yankees 2024 World Series run is now at Triple-A Scranton, where the organization is asking him to expand his game and absorb a new position during a period of declining performance.
For a player long viewed as part of the core, the move signals more than a temporary reset. It suggests the Yankees are weighing a different infield look ahead, one that could eventually put Volpe at second base and George Lombard Jr. at shortstop, a shift that would change both Volpes role and the way the organization maps out its next few seasons. [Read more 🡒]
DJ LeMahieu Is Giving Yankees Fans A New Reason To Smile
DJ LeMahieu spent the summer in a very different dugout, taking over a collegiate team and helping turn a late push into something bigger. The Royal Oak Leprechauns, a Northwoods League club, fought their way into the postseason in the final week of the regular season, then kept rolling by winning the Great Lakes Division and advancing all the way to the title game.
For a first-year manager, it was about as strong an introduction as possible for the longtime Yankees infielder, who was hired in May to lead the club. Royal Oak finished the job against the St. Cloud Rox, and the result gives LeMahieu a fresh bit of momentum as his work with young players already has produced a championship run. [Read more 🡒]
Ben Rice Has Become A Real Yankees Lineup Concern
Ben Rices bat has gone from one of the most encouraging stories in the Yankees lineup to a source of real concern, even if the underlying contact still looks better than the results. Earlier in the season he was driving the ball with the kind of authority that made him one of the more productive hitters in the American League, and even now the hard contact has not disappeared, with some balls simply not finding grass or seats the way they did before.
Aaron Boone has acknowledged the slump, and Rice has, too, while both have pointed to the same frustrating split between process and production. The challenge now is less about convincing anyone the contact quality is there and more about turning that into consistent damage again, because the Yankees need the version of Rice that was carrying his share of the offense, not the one watching good swings turn into empty at-bats. [Read more 🡒]